In Spain, war tax resistance launched in
1983, following our incorporation into NATOthe previous year. At that time it was
said that in order to standardize all of the Spanish armed forces
into NATO
systems, it was necessary to increase spending a lot on the military
tech budgets, arms manufacture budgets,
etc.
We realized that this was barbarous and began to practice tax
resistance, following an analogous path with what had already been
done with conscientious objection to military service.

There were people who did not want to participate in the preparation
for war with their bodies and their effort and who therefore
declared themselves to be conscientious objectors. The same thing
goes for those who do not want to participate with their money in the
financing of war. That means that in your taxes, which is where you
you can act, you stop paying the percentage that the Defense
Department gets in the federal budget. If military spending is 2% of
the budget, and I have to pay 100, I will pay 98 because I want to
stop paying this amount to the state. The way to go about it is to
choose an NGO
or some social action, send those two resisted euros, and tell the
Treasury: “I would be willing to pay 100 but as two are going for
very bad spending, here are the other 98.”

Is this treated as an act of civil disobedience?

Obviously the act is not recognized by law, and if they catch you,
which doesn’t always happen, they can demand that amount. For all
that, things take their course. Up to now you stopped paying the two
euros, they demanded them, and furthermore added a fine or costs and
so you end up paying eight. Concerning this there is a judgment of
the Catalan Superior Court of Justice in which an objector was told
that he should only pay the delinquent tax but not the
fine.

With good sense, the judgment held that the Treasury can only impose
a fine when the taxpayer has intended to be deceptive. It’s clear
that the objector doesn’t have such an intent because from day one he
turns up with a receipt from the NGO or group
to which he has donated. A single judgment does not create
jurisprudence but I realize that it is necessary to keep winning more
so that, finally, this is so.

What other alternatives do citizens have to oppose spending on the
military and arms industry?

There are some that form part of what we would call conscientious
objection, and others that would be broader. I think that a basic
way of fighting is in education for peace, which is already practiced
but less than is needed. From television shows to schools, and
especially from families, we have to try not to impose a violent
response to conflicts. Certainly, we also have to work politically,
with actions for disarmament.

If we look at conscientious objection, until now we have discussed
two actions: objection to military service and tax resistance, but
there should be others, such as labor objection. Right here in
Bilbao, there was the case of a firefighter who refused to work
overseeing the exportation of military equipment. A few years ago in
Catalonia, two sailors refused to participate in the transport of
Spanish soldiers who were going to the Iraq War, and lost their jobs,
but these are isolated cases.

There is also another type of objection. Some 15 years ago, there was
a conference in Zaragoza in which more than a thousand professors
declared ourselves scientific objectors, which is to say, signed a
manifesto to say none of our scientific investigations were to be
used for military purposes. Or, also, there is financial objection.
I refuse to put money in a bank so that it will wind up invested in
weapons, starting with the one that invests the most money in that
business, BBVA.

Cincinnati.com looks at the long career in direct action of war tax
resister DeCourcy Squire.

The Greek “Won’t Pay” movement’s guerrilla electricians have
reconnected the power
at the home of another needy family cut off by the government utility
monopoly for inability to pay new surcharges.

Three foes in particular are enabling tax dodgers, making their ploys
more common and more damaging: reduced support for the
IRS,
new incentives for people to become cheaters and widening partisan
distrust.

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